I'll Be There

"So what exactly do you plan to do with my babies?" Tony questioned as she watched Alex saunter into the garage carrying a bag.

"First of all, you're not Dean Winchester. Your cars are not your babies—I am," Alex stated firmly as she placed the controllers on the work bench. "Secondly, I thought you wanted me to forgive you," she pointed out.

"I do, but I have no idea what you're planning to do."

"Nothing I haven't done before," Alex replied nonchalantly as she rummaged through the bag and pulled out three X-box controllers and three disks.

"What is that?" questioned Tony as he watched Alex take a controller and a disk and walk over to his black Cadillac.

"That's an X-box controller," echoed Steve's voice as he entered the large garage.

Alex and Tony both turned their heads to see Steve with a half smile on his face and a tray of burritos in his arms.

"What he said," Alex agreed, smiling to herself as she opened the Cadillac and placed the disk in the CD port which caused the car to start up. "Okay . Now let's see if the controllers work," Alex mumbled as she pressed the 'A' button causing the engine to roar. "Yes!" Alex said victoriously.

"Alex, what the hell!" exclaimed Tony in confusion. "How did you—when did you—why did you?"

"To answer your questions: Because I'm a genius, when I was 16 at your house in Malibu, and because you never let me drive your cars," Alex replied. "Only now, instead of driving your cars to the beach, I get to race them against each other in your garage."

"No. I am not having any part of this," Tony announced.

"Fine. Then don't," Alex stated bluntly as she proceeded to grab another controller and click and repeat the process this time with the Porsche. "The Dorito and I will have fun racing each other."

"I thought you were mad at him."

"Oh I am still mad at him," answered Alex as she walked over to Steve and grabbed a burrito from the tray he had. "I'm very mad at him, but he did what I asked him to, so I'll play nice with him," she continued as she viciously took a large bite of her food. "For now."

"Do you want the Cadillac or the Porsche?" Alex asked Steve as she took another large bite from her burrito.

"I'll take the Porsche. I know how much you like your dad's Cadillac," Steve replied as he grabbed the second controller. "So how are we doing this?"

"It's just like Mario Karts," explained Alex. "Only we'll be using actual cars and you don't get to be Mario."

"Can I be Princess Peach then?" joked Steve which caused Alex to half-smile.

As Tony watched the two talking and getting along, he thought back to what Steve had said earlier. That no matter how mad Alex was at him, or Steve, or anyone else for that matter, over time she'd warm back up to them. Alex had already paved a road of forgiveness for him. All he had to do was walk across it even if it meant possibly damaging some of his nice cars.

'Having Alex not ignore me is worth it,' Tony tried to convince himself.

"Alex!" Tony called out. "You're a brat, and you need to grow up, and you're lucky that I never found out about you taking my cars as a teenager, otherwise I would have grounded you for three months."

"Dad, you only ever had me for a few weeks at a time," Alex pointed out.

"And you're a wise-ass sometimes," Tony continued as he made his way over to her and grabbed the third remote.

"So…you're going to play with us?" Alex asked with a smirk on her face.

"No. I'm going to beat you guys."

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"I don't see how this is anything like Mario Karts," Tony stated bluntly. "We've just been doing loops around the garage."

"Well, it's not my fault that you don't have any ramps or obstacles for us to go through," remarked Alex as she continued to maneuver the Cadillac around the edge of the garage.

"Well then I'm sorry for not making any obstacles or ramps or whatever. I just wanted a normal garage so that I could park my cars in I didn't plan on having to race them against one another."

"Apology accepted, but your garage is still boring. You're a genius, you should have anticipated something like this happening," Alex sighed.

"Well, is there anything else that these controls can do? Did you make them so you can rig the car to spill oil out, or have a power boost, or something?" Steve asked curiously.

"No."Alex responded. "I only wanted to be able to drive. I didn't think I would have a need to make it do anything fancy."

"Don't you think you should have anticipated needing to do something fancy?" questioned Tony.

"Very funny, dad, but even if I made it so that the cars could jump, or go turbo, or shoot out oil, I would have probably wrecked your car. I mean— I can barely go in reverse without bumping into…wait a minute," Alex said as a sly grin began to form on her mouth.

"Alex, what are you—" Tony began to ask before he stopped mid sentence at the sight of his black Cadillac make an abrupt stop before it began to move in reverse.

"There," Alex stated with a hint of mischief in her voice. "Now it's an obstacle course…at least for the two of you."

"God dammit, Alex. You're going to kill someone," Tony complained as he tried to maneuver the Corvette to avoid hitting his other two cars.

"Dad, relax, it's not like we're actually driving the cars. We're on the observation deck," Alex pointed out. "The worst that can happen is a little fender bender and that's only if the two of you can't doge me," continued Alex as she decided to make a sharp left turn, nearly hitting the Porsche Steve had been controlling.

"Okay, that right there could have been an accident."

"But it wasn't, Tony, and even if it was, I'm sure that it's nothing you can't fix," stated Steve.

"Really that's your defense?" asked Tony.

"Yes. Is that a problem? Besides, Alex is having fun. Does having your cars a little banged up really mean that much to you?"

"It's not about the cars. Sure, I'll be pretty upset if Alex decides to crash into one of my cars, but I'll be more upset because I know she's only doing it to try to get back at me."

"What's wrong with that?" Alex asked irritated.

"Alex," Tony sighed as he slowed down his car and parked it in the middle of the garage. "Why are you doing this?"

"What do you mean why?" scoffed Alex. "I'm doing this to get back at you, duh. I'm doing this because I'm mad at you. You let me down, so now I'm going to try to destroy your cars."

"But I've let you down so many times before," replied Tony.

"I don't think you're helping your case," mentioned Steve.

"Let me finish," Tony said in a firm voice. "Alex— I let you down more times than I can count, but I've always made it up to you."

"Yeah, by buying me toys so that I would forget that I was mad at you."

"That's not entirely true," defended Tony. "When I didn't take you to see Santa when you were six and you cried about it, I dressed up as Santa on Christmas day to surprise you. And when I didn't take you to the science fair for you to demonstrate your rocket, I got my friends in the Hall of Science to put your rocket on display for one of their exhibits. And—"

"What's your point, dad?" interrupted Alex as she put the Cadillac to an immediate stop. "That was then. This is now."

"My point is that, every time I've let you down, I haven't just made it up to you. I've made sure that you got what you really needed whether it was to see something magical or feel like you could make amazing things and I'm going to make sure that you get whatever it is that you really need— whatever it is," explained Tony.

Alex stood silently as she took in Tony's words. She knew that he had a point and that he would do his best to give her whatever it was that she truly needed from him. However, she wasn't exactly sure what it was that she needed.

"Alex, you okay?" Steve asked as he put down his controller after having also stopped his car.

Alex did not respond. Instead she looked at the floor trying to figure out exactly what it was that she had wanted.

"Alex," Steve repeated as he slowly approached her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm fine," she replied as she directed her gaze from the ground to the two men in front of her. "When I was taken I needed someone to save me—I needed Steve to break me out of my prison cell and you to drive the getaway vehicle."

"Why do I have to drive the getaway vehicle?" muttered Tony.

"I don't need that anymore. I saved myself, and now I'm fine for the most part, but I'm scared shitless. I'm having a baby and if it wasn't bad enough that I'm not sure I'm going to be a good mom, I also have to worry about the well being of my son and if Red Skull is going to try to take him away," Alex stated, her voice going from a calm one to one of panic.

"Alex, breath. The fact that you're worried about your kid shows that you're going to be a great mom so you don't have to worry about that," assured Steve.

"Okay, but what about Red Skull? He kidnapped me once before."

"He got lucky once before," Tony replied. "If Red Skull or any of his henchmen even think about trying to take you or junior, they're going to answer to me. I'll be your security system so that you don't have to worry. Okay, Alex?"

Alex half-laughed at how much of an over protective dad Tony sounded like and then she realized what it was what she needed from him.

"Thanks for that and thank you for being over protective and caring about me and Squishy. I forgive you."

"Who's Squishy?" Tony asked before he felt a pair of arms wrap around him.

"That's what I'm calling your grandson for now, idiot," Alex remarked.

"I never heard of that one before, but okay. What made you cave?"

"I didn't cave," defended Alex. "You just gave us exactly what we needed."

"Us?" Tony questioned.

"I think she means her and Squishy," Steve explained.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," Alex begun. "But yes, dad, us. I need you to be you and that's an over protective father, not a little wimp that's so worried about me being mad at them that they'll let me smash their things."

"Okay…so what does squishy or whatever his name is need?"

"He's going to need a grandfather that cares about him like you clearly do."

"Okay, but what about Steve? Isn't your son also going to need a dad that cares about him and loves him?" Tony asked as he pressed his luck and attempted to get Alex to forgive the both of them.

"Yeah," dragged Alex. "But—"

"But what? Steve's done more for you than I have. You should forgive him already."

Alex stared at Steve for a minute. She noted him biting the edge of his lip as if wanting to say something, but uncertain of what to say.

"Alex I—"

"I'm sorry Steve," interrupted Alex. "I know you've been really trying to make me happy and I've been nothing but a bitch but, I'm not ready to forgive you yet. I haven't got what I needed from you yet."

"Well, then tell me what it that you need. I promise I'll be that for you or do it for you or whatever it is."

"I can't," Alex responded as she began to make her way out of the garage. "I don't know what it is yet."